An Episcopal (Anglican) Chaplain in the Saint Luke's Health System of Kansas City, reflecting on work and faith and life. NOTA BENE: my opinions are my own and do not represent the Episcopal Church or the Saint Luke's Health System.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Update on Endorsement for Episcopal Chaplains

I have done my best to keep track of the process for ecclesiastical endorsement in the Episcopal Church. As I've noted, endorsement is perhaps the most common search terms that leads folks to my site. I also noted that changes have been happening at the web site of the Episcopal Church.

Well, one of those changes has been to move the form to request ecclesiastical endorsement. It is now available here. Even better, the path to reach it on the Church's web site is not only simpler, but relatively logical. I've given the direct link; but it you go the the Church's home page and click on the "Networking" tab, the link to the form is right there, on the "Networking" home page. Granted, that's more straightforward if you know that endorsement for healthcare chaplaincy has been moved from the Office of the Bishop of Federal Chaplaincies to the Mission Department. (Of course, if the search term led you to this site, you already know that.)

So, the form is readily available, and the process remains as it has been for a while now. And I can only think of a couple of steps for the Church's web experts to take to make it even simpler. One would be to have a page listing and providing links to all the forms the Church uses, or at least all those for use outside the Episcopal Church Center, and include that page in the links in the Church's "A to Z Directory." The second would be for the link in the "A to Z Directory" to "Chaplaincies" to include all chaplaincies in the Church, and not just Federal chaplaincies. I have the greatest respect for Bishop Magness and all of our Federal Chaplaincies; but other chaplaincies have resources at the Episcopal Church Center, and networks for, well, networking. Making those directly accessible from the "A to Z Directory would simplify the process for a lot of folks. Granted, it might mean fewer folks came here for this information; but I'd be willing to accept the pain.

So, if you're here to learn about endorsement for healthcare ministries in the Episcopal Church, the information is available. I'm happy to help, and thanks for stopping by.